


And Why?

by hops



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, bed sharing, postcanon, whatever just read it!!!!!! im bad at tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 16:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20838368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hops/pseuds/hops
Summary: ~AMNESTY FINALE SPOILERS~“If I had to guess what the moment was, I would say the moment was, they realized the fight was over, kind of figured they should go their separate ways, and weren’t really able to. And why?”A few reasons why.





	And Why?

**Author's Note:**

> thanks, as always, to @epersonae for her help with this one, and for sharing my enthusiasms.

Leo's retirement party was small, just Minerva and Duck and Sarah, some of his regulars, and Mama, come to send best wishes on behalf of Amnesty Lodge. The store was empty now, ready to be shuttered up until someone took it over or made it into a chain restaurant, so Leo opted to have the party in his apartment.

Sarah had baked a cake that said "Happy Sort-Of Retirement, Leo!" She was right, of course, that Leo wasn't really retiring. Indrid's Winnebago sat parked outside the apartment complex, ready for Leo's first extended venture into the world since arriving in Kepler to watch over Duck and near-singlehandedly run his store. He was headed to New York to see some old friends. A story for another day, Leo told him. 

They ate and drank together, gathered in the small living room, celebrating the work of a man who played his part in the town and in everything that happened to it. They didn't talk about that; everyone in town knew different things, or thought they knew, at least, and some secrets were just chosen to be kept. Duck knew all about that. And besides, the last thing they wanted was attention. 

Duck and Leo sat together on the couch, nursing beers, listening to Minerva excitedly talking about YouTube to some of Leo's regulars in the kitchen. 

"So, what's next for you, anyway?" Leo asked, gesturing in Minerva's direction. "Back to the ol' grind?" 

Duck had been back at work for a few weeks. The monotony that had once been comforting had been jarring upon his return from fulfilling his destiny. 

Duck shrugged. "Guess so. Haven't thought that far ahead yet." 

"Tryin' to get a read on what kind of goodbye this is, y'know?" Leo sighed deeply, shaking his head. "Last time she disappeared it sucked." 

"I don't think she's going anywhere yet. Slow your roll, bud." 

"I know, retirement's just got me in that mood, eh?" He elbowed Duck, then sipped his beer. "C'mon, let's intervene before she talks their ears off." 

"--and then the chef recreates the garbage food from scratch, and improves it! It is my favorite video series on YouTube," Minerva explained with enthusiasm, speaking with her hands. Duck walked into the modest kitchen and, without thinking, laid a hand on her arm. "Ah, Duck! I was just telling my new friends about YouTube." 

"So I heard. We should all go sit on the couch, maybe? Didn't mean to hog the space." Duck said. 

As the guests filed back into the living room, Minerva shifted, looking away. "I was talking too much?" 

"Nah, talking just enough." He nudged her and she smiled. As he turned back in Leo's direction, Leo grinned at him. "What?"

"Nothin'! Nothin'. Everyone come sit, we'll play charades or somethin', I dunno. I didn't say nothing." 

* * *

“I’ve seen a lot of Earth movies, Wayne Newton, I don’t think you are going to surprise me,” Minerva said proudly, leaning back on the couch. The shirt she had borrowed from Duck was a little too small for her, but she was making it work. 

“We haven’t watched any _ old _movies,” Duck replied, looking between DVDs, on his knees in front of the TV stand. “Lucky for you, I got some of those box sets from a PBS special, ‘cause I am easily swayed by a good public broadcast.” 

“A boxed set?” 

“Like, a bunch of movies in a box, and I’m gonna pick a good one. Like, with tap dancing and stuff.” 

Minerva knit her brow, bewildered. “Tap dancing?” 

“Oh man, is this too much at once? Sorry, we’re trying to chill and I’m talkin’ about PBS and tap dancing—” 

Minerva’s booming laughter filled the apartment. She tossed a blanket over herself and put both arms behind her head. “If you do not immediately show me tap dancing, I will be very upset with you, Wayne Newton.” 

Duck laughed with a snort. “Sure, sure, this one works,” he said. “I’ll skip to the— the tap dancin’.” He started to laugh again and Minverva stuck her foot out to prod at his arm. Duck turned and pushed her away playfully. “I can’t tell if you’re gonna be impressed or entirely underwhelmed. I don’t know your frame of reference.” 

Minerva withdrew her foot and narrowed her eyes. “I will be the judge of this _ tap dancing.” _

Duck laughed, shook his head, and skipped ahead through scenes of _ For Me and My Gal _til he found one where Judy Garland and Gene Kelly were leading each other around a bar room, heels clacking. In an instant, Minerva was dazzled, her eyes gone wide with wonder. 

“Are all your _ old movies _like this one, Wayne Newton?” 

_ “You know what I can’t eat for breakfast?” _ Gene Kelly asked on screen, and Duck watched as Minerva raised a brow. Gene linked arms with Judy and they tapped back and forth. _ “Lunch and dinner!” _

Duck could see the recognition of a joke, albeit not a great one, cross Minerva’s face. She said nothing, and Duck couldn’t stop himself, he just reached out and nudged her. 

Duck swallowed, not knowing exactly what his plan was once he’d gotten her attention back from the screen. “Not all the movies, no,” he scrambled to answer her question from before. “But some of ‘em, sure.” 

“I’ve never seen any dancing like that, moving together,” Minerva said, studying the dancers’ movements on the screen, then looking back at Duck. “It is not unlike combat.” 

Duck cocked his head to the side and squinted, slumping on the floor. “I _ guess?” _ he said, amazed at Minerva’s ability to relate almost anything to _ battle. _But Duck understood, even if he gave her shit for it. It’s hard to unlearn things, old defenses that used to be necessary.

As he looked up at Minerva, her face lit in the greyscale light of the television, he wondered what other defenses weren’t necessary anymore. It almost spooked him to think about it. But he didn’t shy away; he watched as Minerva stood up and shamelessly attempted to mimic the motions of the dancers on screen. As soon as she realized it was much harder than it appeared, she pulled Duck up onto his feet and gestured for him to join her with a laugh. 

“Me? Hey, this is movie night, not Zumba.” Duck’s cheeks went hot as she looked at him expectantly. 

“It is less like combat than I thought,” Minerva said thoughtfully. She linked her arm with his, and as she caught his hesitant eye, she grinned wide enough to reassure him. “But it is enough that I think we can do it.” 

“I suppose you’ve seen me worse,” Duck said with a resigned shrug. On screen, Gene swung Judy into his grasp, both of them still dancing. Duck attempted to do the same, entirely clumsy, laughing, both their feet moving out of time. Minerva shook with laughter. As Duck attempted to twirl her around, he lost his balance and landed straight on his ass. Minerva stood over him, shocked, both of them quiet for a moment before Duck burst into laughter twice as hard as before.

“It is good we are the only ones here!” Minerva exclaimed, holding a hand out for Duck to stand back up. Behind them on the screen, the two dancers embraced. “Are you okay, Wayne?” 

Duck took pause at the lack of his last name, the soft concern that lined Minerva’s calm face. The only sound in the room was the tinny music coming from the movie. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” Duck paused, feeling vulnerable with her eyes on him. “ You wanna order pizza?” 

Minerva gasped. “Yes! I want to try pineapple.” 

“Hell yeah you do. Let’s do this.” 

* * *

It was the times Duck wasn’t thinking about what was _ next _that he felt the most at ease. He supposed that was why things felt alright with Minerva; he they didn’t think about next, they didn’t talk about next, because they weren’t quite ready for next. And that was okay. Nobody was there to force them forward, no destiny to pull, no will to disregard. They had time. And Duck liked having time. 

Duck liked having time with Minerva. There was no way around that thought, and he didn’t really avoid it. When he was worrying about the future, he wondered where Minerva would be, what their separate ways would look like, but for now, in the apartment, or in his truck, or walking in the forest, or visiting the Lodge, they had time. And it was time well spent. Nothing to shy away from there.

It was one day after dinner at the Lodge with the usual suspects, notably Mama, Barclay, and Stern, that Duck and Minerva lingered, chatting with their friends, missing those on the other side, until the crowd dwindled and left the two of them by the hearth. A fire flickered there, lit by someone other than Aubrey now, and a pang of sadness touched Duck for a moment before Minerva drew his attention. 

“It is nice to see everyone,” Minerva said, wistful, almost, gazing at the fire just as Duck had been. “I know there is something on your mind.” 

Duck glanced at her, and she met him with a sidelong, knowing look. Duck sighed. 

“I can’t help but wonder if you’ll be leavin’ too, y’know? Not in a rush to find out, just, yeah.” 

Minerva paused. “Will you step outside with me, Duck Newton?” 

She hadn’t called him Duck in a while. It almost felt like _ before _everything. A different time. He followed Minerva outside onto the patio behind the Lodge, a garden growing to their right, the hot springs walled off to the left. And above them, a cloudless, moonlit night, the stars innumerable and closer than ever, it seemed. Maybe that was just his mind playing tricks on him. Being on an alien craft, or whatever, could really do that to a person. 

“Of all these celestial bodies, I could not tell you which one is my home, or even point in the vague direction of it!” Minerva said, almost amused at her cluelessness. “And yes, I suppose I could use a wormhole, but there’s… there’s not much waiting for me back there, Wayne Newton. And now that I’ve seen Earth!” 

Duck chuckled, letting a wave of emotion pass as he listened to her speak. “Yeah, it’s pretty fresh, right?”

“You are not rid of me yet. There are more pizzas I want to try!” 

Duck’s heart swelled, leaving him speechless for a moment. He looked at her, fully, turning to see her in the moonlight, haloed by the stars and the tips of the pine trees behind her. He was thankful that she had been there these weeks after everything. Without her steady presence, he didn’t think he would have been able to get back into the swing of things again. But even so...

“Home’s a weird place right now,” he said, as if observing the night or the cool weather. “And I don’t really know…” 

Minerva broke the brief silence that followed. “What don’t you know?” 

“I just… We did it, ‘Nerva, and now what? I just go back to work and pretend nothin’ happened? But you— this is all new to you, and that’s cool, that’s good, maybe it’s a good time to take it easy. I dunno.” 

“Wayne…” she started, choosing her words with careful precision. Minerva did most things this way. “I appreciate your concern, but I can keep up with your day-to-day affairs on Earth. In fact, I enjoy them. But I enjoy them because they are things we share! If you are unhappy, please do not allow my presence to stop you from…” She trailed off, studying his face. “There’s something you wish to say,” she observed. 

“The destiny thing is over, right?” Duck said, thoughts going faster than his mouth. He wondered if Billy was out there somewhere above, making good on his promise. He thought of what Billy said about Earth’s bad outweighing its good. _ Reconciliation’s _ agreement. And Billy’s challenge to prove them wrong. “So what do we do now? What does _ happy _even look like?” 

“I… do not know, Duck Newton,” Minerva answered thoughtfully. “But I do know that I want to find out. Together.” 

Duck blinked, the sincerity of her voice drawing him from his speeding thoughts. “Oh. Um, yeah. Yeah. Me too.”

“I said I am with you until the end, and I hold true to that promise.” Minerva paused. “But if we have reached the end and I am overstaying my welcome…” 

“No,” Duck said, entirely certain. Not even wanting to entertain the idea of being as far apart as they had once been. “You’re not.” 

“Then I will continue to follow where you lead, Wayne Newton.” 

* * *

Duck stood in the kitchen, making himself and Minerva a pot of coffee, cat weaving between his ankles. 

“Duck Newton,” Minerva said, formality in tact that had not been there in the weeks prior. “I have a question to ask you.” 

Duck turned to look at her, chest tight with admiration. “What’s up?”

“Do you feel we should continue training?” she asked. Duck looked away with a rush of shame that was unfamiliar, lost in buried memories of running from his future. That was the past now, he didn’t need to feel that here. But Minerva persisted and so did the feeling in his gut. “The hour is drawing nearer and our inaction puts the fate of your world at risk.” 

“Woah, jeez, what hour? We already—” But when Duck looked up, Minerva was just a blue silhouette, no detail visible in her face. “What the fuck? ‘Nerva?” 

“Duck Newton?” she asked, her voice equally panicked. Duck’s heart hammered behind his ribcage. 

At once, Duck woke with a quiet gasp, trying to reacquaint himself with his bedroom. The only light came from the digital clock at his side, reading 4:08 a.m. He sighed. and threw the covers off, ignoring the chill of the sweat he’d worked up, sitting up to reach for his water. But as he did, he heard the sound of footsteps padding down the carpet of the hallway, followed by a quiet, “Wayne Newton?” 

“Uh, come on in,” he answered. He knew immediately that Minerva had had the same nightmare; he supposed that although their shared destiny had been fulfilled, their connection had not been severed. And what did that all mean for them now? 

This, apparently: Minerva standing at the foot of his bed in one of his old shirts, looking sad and unnerved and— Duck stumbled past a thought about her skin in the light of the hallway, but reached to turn on the lamp instead. 

“Did you have the same nightmare?” she asked. 

“The one where— with the projection like before?” 

Minerva swallowed and shifted, standing there with her hands at her sides. “It appeared we were in your kitchen, and as you were preparing coffee, suddenly you were a projection, as I first saw you. Yes.” 

Duck shook his head, his heart sinking. “Yeah. Mine was the other way around, you were there, and then you were… uh…” 

“Oh.” 

“Goddamn glad to see your face.” Duck offered a smile. 

Minerva still appeared stricken. “It is good to see yours too,” she replied, eyes far away. 

“C’mere, would you?” Duck swung his legs over the edge of his bed and patted the spot next to him. Minerva sat beside him, her thigh brushing against his. Duck offered her his hand and she took it with a tight grip. “I’m right here, huh?” Duck said, squeezing back. “Not going anywhere, so don’t worry ‘bout that.” 

Minerva turned to look at him, slowly taking in the detail of his face. “It was the realization that I would not be able to see you that was… jarring,” Minerva observed. 

“Yeah, it fucking sucks. But, y’know.” He found himself taking in the sight of her as well in the lamplight. An old scar across her cheek. The blue of her eyes. The weight of the nightmare came back down, pressing on his chest. Even the imagined feeling of being without Minerva was too much to bear. 

Minerva yawned and the feeling in his chest fluttered and disappeared. They were here now, safe, destiny done and fulfilled. They could rest, bad dreams be damned. 

“You wanna hang in here for a few? Get some Pop-Tarts, watch some infomercials…” 

Minerva chuckled and shook her head; for a moment Duck feared he had overstepped, offered comfort where someone like Minerva didn’t need it. But Minerva settled back onto the other side of the bed and said, “I know these _ infomercials _are not for watching, Wayne Newton, they are for knowing you have the television on at an ungodly hour!” 

Duck laughed with surprise. “That is what I told you, ain’t it.” 

After Pop-Tart crumbs and wee-hours re-runs, their shared nightmare forgotten, they fell asleep in Duck’s bed with the TV still on. Duck woke again, restless, Minerva asleep in in the glow of the 6 o’clock news. He smiled at the sound of her small snores, taking a beat to just admire the sight of her there before realizing they’d passed out in his bed, together. 

On the television, a wildfire visible from space blazed through the Amazon. Duck’s heart sank as he flicked it off with the remote and left Minerva behind to rest in his bed without him. Probably less awkward of an awakening for her than sitting next to her watching the news, anyhow. 

Duck poured himself a bowl of cereal and put the TV in the living room on the same channel, just to pass the time. The news cycle repeated and there was the Amazon again. Duck turned the subtitles on as to not wake Minerva. 

The rainforest was burning, relief money refused, but a reforestation effort was beginning. Duck’s heart gave an awful twist at the sight of the destruction the fire had wrought. The rows upon rows of burning trees, the billowing smoke that cut through the blue sky. The Quell had been a terror, and _ Reconciliation _something else entirely. But this was something personal, something that reached inside him in a deep, almost spiritual place. The Earth was his home, now more than ever before. Someone needed to do something. And hell, maybe that someone wasn’t even him this time. But it could be. 

Duck muted the news and passed the time with a crossword puzzle, trying to think clearly after getting himself worked up. Minerva emerged an hour or so later from his room, wiping the sleep from her eyes. 

“I apologize, Duck Newton,” she started with unnecessary formality. 

Duck held up a hand and shook his head. “No need. I’m glad you got some rest. I was just—” he waved to the bowl and remote on the coffee table in front of him. 

“I see, consuming daily news programming.” 

“Yeah…” Duck said as the same footage of the fires in the rainforest rolled yet again. If there was ever a moment to raise the issue to her, it was probably now. He was only half-aware of the feeling of the couch dipping as she sat down beside him, half-aware of the sound of his own voice saying “Fuckin’ awful, now that’s something I could—” 

_ Could what? _For all that fulfilling his destiny shit against his own self-imposed odds, he’d learned he was far from helpless. And that forest, the lungs of the Earth, the greatest wonder his planet possessed needed help. 

“What if…” he started and stopped, Minerva’s steady presence beside him a temptation to keep the status quo. “I think that’s where I need to go.” 

“To the Amazon Rainforest?” Minerva asked, reading off the screen. Duck nodded and Minerva gave a thoughtful, if not a bit downtrodden, look in response. “If that is where you feel you must go, I will not stand in your way.” 

“Well I don’t— I mean, I’d want you to come with…” And that was when Duck realized how ridiculous he sounded, asking Minerva to uproot her entire new life on Earth to chase some volunteer effort he had no clue where to start with. Maybe he would give Juno a call. Or maybe he should drop the idea entirely before he made a fool of himself. 

“If you feel it is your calling to go to the Amazon Rainforest, then you should go,” Minerva said with conviction. 

Duck looked at her, nudging her leg with his. “We. We should go. Unless you don’t want…” 

“No! No, Wayne Newton. I feel that it would be… unwise, for us to part.” 

And why? For the nightmares, for the constant companionship, for the lonely months spent with their connection severed… for the touch of her hand, for his bed that they shared, how could he let her go now? What did all that mean? 

“I agree.” 

His voice was softer than he planned on it being, but it’s not like he could stop it now, with the sight of a future playing out in his mind that had been resting somewhere beneath his heart all morning. When he looked up at Minerva, she grinned, and his heart was full. Heat rose in his cheeks. He felt her breath, her _ pulse _, almost, thrumming wildly between them. He realized then that the heartbeat was his own.

“You know, I think, uh, I know that the destiny stuff is a little overdone at this point, and it’s like, hey, it’s over, right?” Duck said, his face getting hot. She looked at him with a curious expression, a beautiful one, he thought, and didn’t stop himself. “But it’s not, I don’t think. I mean, yeah, Reconciliation is over and we did that. _ I _did that, I guess, and we can unpack the moral implications of that later probably, but… I’ve still got stuff to do, and I think this is it. And I wanna do it with you.” 

Minerva nodded. “Yes. One might say our destinies are entwined, then.” 

And all at once, all he could think about was kissing her. So, to hell with it. To hell with all of it. He had one more chance to take. 

“Did they have kissing back on Five?” Duck asked plainly, a crooked smile touching his lips. 

Minerva drew a breath, looked down, and smiled. “Yes,” she said slowly. “Yes, they did.” 

“Kay, just wanted to check first before I, y’know.” Duck shrugged as he reached for her cheek, pulling her forward as her eyes fluttered shut. 

She kissed him with surprising tenderness, as if she hadn’t been taken off guard at all. Maybe she was just good on her feet; maybe that was something he liked so much about her. That and kissing her, that in itself was pretty damn nice. Better than he remembered, better than he daydreamed about. Her kisses were short and sweet, punctuated by a chuckle. Minerva beamed at him from her spot beside him on the couch and took his hand between both of her bigger ones. 

“Alright, I know that look. What is it?” 

Minerva shook her head, her smile steady and true. “I am… looking forward to the future, Wayne Newton.” 

“Yeah,” Duck said with a nod. “Yeah, me too.” 


End file.
